Military Operations

While senior military officials are urging support for Afghanistan operations, Afghans are fearful about the Kandahar offensive and uncertain about U.S. plans to start withdrawing troops in July 2011, says CFR's Stephen Biddle.

The U.S.-led offensive against the Taliban stronghold of Marja is an important part of the "hold-and-build" strategy to extend Afghan government control into restive provinces, says CFR expert Max Boot.

Two key issues in Afghanistan are whether President Hamid Karzai will implement reforms and whether the American public is willing to invest the time it will take for a successful counterinsurgency, says CFR defense expert Stephen Biddle.

CFR's Kim Barker, on return from a recent trip to Kabul, says Afghans are disillusioned with both the reelection of President Hamid Karzai and what they perceive as the U.S desire for an exit strategy.

Stephen Biddle, a senior defense and counterterrorism analyst, says that President Obama's schedule for reducing and then ending the U.S. deployment in Iraq "is a reasonable compromise between several conflicting demands."

"What had been invisible to Sheikh and other residents of Barawe was the stealthy advance of navy Seal team six – the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan – in a speedboat towards the Somalian coastline before first light. The team consisted of about 20 Seals, according to leaked accounts, and their craft was flanked on the Indian Ocean by three small boats to provide back-up."

Campaign 2012

Joshua Foust highlights the apprehensiveness of both presidential candidates to address the ongoing war in Afghanistan and what it means for raising public or political pressure to find a lasting solution.

In The New York Review of Books, Ahmed Rashid sifts through the conflicting reports of U.S. forces' success in Afghanistan and the distinct perspectives of the many players involved in the Afghan conflict.

As the United States must not abandon the thousands of Iraqis currently risking their lives to work alongside our soldiers, diplomats, and aid workers. The Obama Administration cannot wait until the final hours of the withdrawal to address this moral imperative.